Chapter 07

I glanced sideways at Ferian.

His sudden change in attitude made me a bit uneasy.

“There he is.”

Kies was coming out of the building Ferian pointed at, carrying an armful of purchases.

“How did the three of you come together?”

Kies asked, looking puzzled.

“I had something to say to Kies. I ran into Ferian on the way.”

“What is it?”

“I heard from Berto. He said it’s hard to get materials here, so there are limits to repairing the ship.”

The plan was to refit the pirate ship Kies and I had arrived on to our liking and sail back to the Empire.

There were plenty of gold coins on board.

“So I was thinking, instead of wasting time, why not leave as soon as we’re ready? We need to get back quickly, after all.”

I was in a hurry since we had to cut a two-year voyage down to one.

“Wait. You just woke up from being unconscious. Sailing right away is too much. It’d be better to rest a few more days.”

The answer came not from Kies, but from Ferian.

Him pretending to be concerned was far scarier than when he lashed out.

“I’m fine. If anything, I slept so long I’m fully recharged.”

“You were captured by pirates before you got here, weren’t you?”

“All I did then was sleep too. Kies handled taking down the pirates anyway.”

Ferian looked at me like I was a noncompliant patient and sighed.

“But you two……”

Kies, who had been quietly observing, spoke up.

“Did you decide to drop the formalities?”

“Since my tone made it too obvious I was a noble, we agreed to speak comfortably.”

Berto explained, and Kies’s expression grew ambiguous.

“All three of you?”

I caught the opportunity in Kies’s somewhat prickly tone. That wasn’t dissatisfaction—not at all.

“Kies, speaking of which, how about all of us drop the formalities together?”

Surprisingly, Berto and Ferian didn’t object to my insubordination. Instead, they looked at Kies, waiting for his answer.

“Hah, you want to be on equal footing with me?”

“It’s more like—the three of us are like friends, so it’d be weird to only be formal with Kies.”

“How absurd.”

“Fine, forget it if you don’t want to.”

He was younger than Berto but acted like such a stick in the mud.

“……Fine. Let’s all be comfortable with each other. Have it your way.”

He sounded like he was grinding his teeth, but since he’d already given permission, there was no taking it back.

“Nice to meet you, friend.”

I extended my hand, and Kies let out a snort of disbelief.

“I said you could speak comfortably, not that we’re friends.”

“Cheap.”

“Insulting the imperial family is also not allowed.”

I couldn’t say anything and just glared, when Ferian clapped his hands to get our attention.

“Alright, back to square one. When do we depart?”

“Today.”

When I insisted again, Kies looked at me.

“Are you sure you’ll be fine?”

“It’s not like I’m the one sailing. Oh, Berto, are you okay? You must be tired from the fight yesterday.”

“I’m fine.”

“Then it’s settled—we leave today.”

As I rushed to finalize it, Ferian shook his head in exasperation.

“But we need to decide where to go first.”

Berto pointed out the most important thing.

For the next destination, there was a place we absolutely had to visit.

The place where the female lead was. I didn’t care about romance, but the female lead’s abilities were essential.

She was a mage, after all.

“We don’t know this region well, so we should ask the village head. Berto, could you go? I’ll restock the supplies.”

“Understood.”

His extremely respectful speech made me glare at Berto with fiery eyes.

He cleared his throat once and answered again.

“Ahem, got it.”

I was going to fix Kies and Berto’s way of speaking during this voyage, once and for all.

“I’ll help. I just bought the herbs—what else should we get?”

Watching Ferian talk with Kies, I quietly slipped away to follow Berto.

“I should take Luke back. Luke!”

Luke, who had been playing with a stick in the distance, came running the moment he heard his name, bored with the adult conversation.

Once we arrived at the village head’s house, luckily, he recommended exactly the place I was hoping for.

“If that’s what you’re looking for, Primagne should be suitable.”

The village head said, pushing a cup of tea toward me.

“Primagne. I think I saw it on the map.”

Berto spread the map he’d brought on the table.

Primagne was a bustling port city on the eastern side of the Greodia continent. For reference, Greodia was also the continent where the Empire was located.

On a world map, there was a straight black strip down the middle—the sea where Lucas’s corrupted energy spread, the Black Sea, and its dark lands.

So even though Primagne was right next to the Empire, the darkness blocked it, making circumnavigation necessary for trade.

Honestly, if Lucas had just dropped us off in the Empire right after saving us from the Black Sea, things would’ve been much simpler.

‘But if we’d gone back then, we would’ve all been executed.’

No helping it.

While I was cursing Lucas today as well, Berto seemed to have finished his conversation with the village head and rolled up the map.

“May I ask for an introduction to a shipyard?”

“Oh my, I didn’t think of that. I’ll write a letter right away.”

A moment later, the village head returned with an envelope and a large wooden box.

“Lady Tatiana, it’s modest, but please accept this. We haven’t even begun to repay you for your kindness, and now you’re leaving—this is all I could prepare.”

The moment the village head opened the lid, I was mesmerized.

“Wow… it’s so beautiful.”

A stained-glass humpback whale, looking as if it were flying through the sky, was adorned with pearls, sea glass, and shell fragments.

“I heard you have a long voyage ahead. On our island, we’ve hung this decoration on ships for generations. It’s a wish for the humpback whale, guardian of the sea, to protect the sailors.”

“Thank you so much. I’ll hang it where it’s most visible.”

With that gift of gratitude, our preparations for departure were complete.

The large sail unfurled with a flap. The white canvas swelled round as it caught the wind.

The capstan turned with a creak, and the anchor that had been holding the ship in place was raised.

We were setting sail.

“Big sister!”

I leaned over the railing on the second floor, stretching my body out to look at the dock.

Luke waved his hand widely. Behind him, the villagers had gathered to see us off.

“Goodbye, Luke! Thank you all so much!”

It had been a short encounter, but they were the first people I’d met since returning to this world.

Kind people who didn’t point fingers at me as the tyrannical lady, but hailed me as a hero.

“Goodbye, big sister! Come back and see us for sure!”

As the ship turned, Kies, Berto, and Ferian also clung to the railing like me to say their farewells.

Hiberry Island grew smaller and smaller.

The crowd of people dispersed one by one, until even the last tiny figure disappeared into a speck.

“I’m feeling a bit sentimental.”

I entered the captain’s quarters and opened the gift box from the village head.

After deliberating where to hang it, I decided on a spot catching the light like a suncatcher, brought a chair over, and climbed up.

Hanging the whale on the wooden beam crossing the ceiling, sunlight streaming through the small window passed through the stained glass and scattered light.

“Great. I love it, gaahk!”

Crash!

As I admired it proudly, the ship lurched violently, and I fell off the chair, tumbling to the floor.

But it wasn’t over.

The ship shook even more intensely, and then—thump!—something struck the hull.

I scrambled outside.

“What in the…!”

The deck was in shambles.

Seawater had flooded in, soaking the floor, making it not only hard to keep balance but also dangerously slippery.

It came out of nowhere.

The sky was clear, and the sea a little further away was calm.

‘There was no episode like this in the original story.’

Had the plot already changed because I acted differently?

“Berto!”

First, I needed to find the navigator.

“Get inside! Brace for impact and stay low!”

Berto’s voice came from the second floor. He was probably at the helm, steering the ship, so I couldn’t see him.

I followed his orders and grabbed the door handle to the captain’s quarters, but stopped before opening it.

‘Where are Kies and Ferian?’

I knew I shouldn’t be worrying about others right now, but my mission was to get them back to the Empire.

That meant everyone had to survive.

That was how I would save the world—and save myself.

“Kies…!”

Turning back, I was about to shout his name at the top of my lungs when I froze, swallowed by a pitch-black shadow.